Our Team
At Water Bear Bio, our mission is to develop accessible technologies that expand access to world-class molecular diagnostics, empowering individuals and communities regardless of where they live.
Jesse Waggoner, MD
Co-Founder, CEO, CSOJesse is a physician–scientist specializing in infectious diseases and the development of molecular diagnostics for emerging pathogens. He earned a BA in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, completed medical school and internal medicine residency at Duke University, and pursued fellowship training in adult infectious diseases at Stanford University.
Before joining Emory University in 2016, Jesse lived and worked in Managua, Nicaragua, where he studied dengue, chikungunya, and Zika infections in children. That experience continues to shape his research, which focuses on building and validating laboratory methods for detecting and characterizing arboviral infections in real-world settings.
His group has developed and evaluated diagnostic assays for more than 40 arboviruses, as well as Plasmodium and Leptospira species, helping expand testing capacity in dengue-endemic regions. Current work centers on extending these tools to new geographies, identifying predictors of disease severity, and designing inexpensive, robust molecular methods suitable for use close to the point of patient care.
Outside the lab and clinic, Jesse enjoys spending time with his family, swimming with his son, and (slowly) learning Spanish. A longtime fan of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, he also has firsthand experience with travel medicine—after contracting campylobacter in the Amazon from an ill-fated piranha ceviche.
David is an assistant professor of biomedical engineering whose work sits at the intersection of mechanics, blood biology, and medical device innovation. He trained as a mechanical engineer for his PhD and completed postdoctoral training in hematology.
David’s research is driven by a simple but persistent question: how can we better understand dynamic biological systems in real time? His work focuses on overcoming one of the fundamental barriers in medicine—the body’s rapid clotting response, which prevents continuous access to blood and limits our ability to monitor patients over time.
David describes the recognition his work has received as both humbling and energizing, particularly for the team building the technology alongside him. Above all, he remains excited—by how things move, how systems work, and how engineering can unlock new ways to care for patients.
Co-Founder, CTODavid Myers, PhD
Morgan Greenleaf, MS
Morgan is a product leader with a background spanning engineering, consulting, digital products, and healthcare innovation. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Virginia and began his career in Atlanta as a project and product manager at Cox Communications, where he worked on large-scale telecom products and infrastructure initiatives.
He later joined Accenture’s consulting practice, focusing on product development for telecommunications and network clients, gaining experience translating complex technical systems into scalable, user-centered solutions. Morgan went on to complete a Master of Science in Product Management at Carnegie Mellon University, where he also worked on developing diagnostic tools for antibiotic resistance in low-resource microbiology laboratories—deepening his interest in applied health technologies.
Prior to joining academic innovation, Morgan served as a product manager for mobile applications at Dick’s Sporting Goods, leading consumer-facing digital products at national scale. He currently serves as Director of Programs in the Vice Provost for Entrepreneurship Office at Emory University, where he supports the development and translation of academic innovations. In parallel, he is part of the Georgia CTSA’s Innovation Catalyst program, focusing on the development of mobile applications and strategies to move research-driven technologies toward real-world impact.
Co-Founder, COOAdvisors
Brian Walsh, MS, MBA
Manuel Kingsley, MBA
Wilbur Lam, MD, PhD
James Rains, PhD
